Medium Wiki:Chat Policy
This is the policy for the . The complete set of rules has been codified below. If you have any questions/comments, or want to have a rule changed or added, click here. Tutorial: What are ChatMods? Chat Moderators are the overseers of the chat. They are entrusted to ensure the chat is orderly and civil by the community and by the SysOp. They are elected by the community to serve the community. As such, they can be removed by the community should they prove to be incapable of preforming their duty as to the communities' liking. Individuals looking to become chat moderators have to be chosen by a committee of admins who will determinate if an user has the necessary requirements to become a mod. Requests to become a chat moderator shall be done Here. What can ChatMods do? A Chat Moderator reserves the right to kickban whenever he/she views a serious infraction of the rules or of accepted conduct on the chat. He or she is given leniency towards their reasoning for banning, due to the fact that they have to make impartial decisions to ban a user for the good of the community. Should a Chat Moderator ban a user, the Moderator must be able to back up their decision both with justification, along with logs of the incident. Failure to do so will result in an investigation by Bureaucrats, and revoking of ban on the affected party. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, the banee may or may not remain unbanned, and the Chat Moderator may or may not retain his or her rights, depending on past history on the matter. Specific examples of abusing Moderator rights: *Kickbanning a user for differences in opinion *Kickbanning a user without evidence *Kickbanning a user without reason *Banning a user from chat due to being blocked at the wiki (see rule 25). *Kickbanning a user due to a request from a different user. For example, a Moderator may not kick an innocent user because a friend told him to. If it is felt that a Chat Moderator abuses the rights granted them by the community, contact a SysOp so he can decide whether or not the Mod may keep his/her title. He/she must unblock and apologize to the kicked user to redeem himself/herself. If a Moderator is unavailable, and a user(s) is violating the guidelines, please take a screenshot(s) of the incident, and/or log the incident; so a Moderator may have proof to act on this evidence at a later date. The duration of a kickban should be reasonable, and fair depending on the severity of the user's actions, and previous infractions. The Moderator is advised to notify the individual of their chat ban, with the reasoning and length, and evidence if necessary. Moderators may use the Chat-Ban template if they wish. Rules Authoritative rulings ::1. Extenuating circumstances - Should a situation arise that is not covered by the chat policy the Moderation Staff holds the right to take action against any individual whom they feel is causing trouble or causing a potential threat on the chat. The word of the Staff takes precedence over the chat policy, so long as the action is justifiable to other members of staff. Harassment :Harassment is commonly understood as behavior intended to disturb or upset, and it is characteristically repetitive. It is also intentional behavior which is found threatening or disturbing. :Should an individual want the behavior to stop, they may request a Moderator to act. Specific examples is such personal attacks include but are not limited too: ::2. Racial harassment - the targeting of an individual because of their race, nationality, or ethnicity. ::3. Religious harassment - the targeting of an individual because of their personal beliefs/religion. ::4. Sexual harassment - unwanted and unwelcome words, deeds, actions, gestures, symbols, or behaviors of a sexual nature that make the target feel uncomfortable. Attacks on gender and sexual orientation also fall into this category. ::5. Interest harassment - the targeting of an individual's personal interests. Whilst disagreement on personal preference is accepted, purposefully attacking an individual's interests with the opinion that your preference is better is not acceptable. ::6. Sociological harassment - the targeting of an individual because of their upbringing, intelligence, grammar, or their spelling. ::7. Mental & physical harassment - the targeting of an individual because of their appearance, health, and mental-state. Some people can not help the way they are, and therefore should not be persecuted for it. Mental-states do not excuse an individual for breaking policy however. ::8. Violent harassment - the use of violence to threaten, or intimidate an individual. Use of death, or violent threats are forbidden. ::9. Legal harassment - the use of legal action threats to make an individual feel uncomfortable. ::10. Vector harassment - the use of vectors to make a user feel uncomfortable. Vectors include images, videos, external links, songs, and ASCII art. ::11. Hazing - the use of persecution, and harassment in a deliberate, calculated, and planned manner as part of an induction into a group. While light teasing is a tradition to new arrivals to a group, excessive use can be mentally damaging. ::12. Mobbing - the purposeful intent of gaining other individuals to help make another user feel uncomfortable, or intimidated. :Individuals occasionally disagree with another individuals opinions and do not intend to cause offense. In these situations the individual is not considered to be harassing another individual. :Individuals engaging in debate is an essential part of the culture of . Assume good faith, be civil and adhere to good wiki etiquette when stating disagreements to avoid personalizing them and try to minimize unnecessarily antagonistic comments. Disagreements with other editors can be discussed without resorting to personal attacks. It is important not to personalize comments that are directed at content and actions, but it is equally important not to interpret such comments as personal attacks. :Disagreements about content such as "Your statement about X'' is wrong" or "Your statement is a point of view, not fact" are not personal attacks. Civil behavior :Being civil to another individual is a key aspect to our society's infrastructure. It is ''your responsibility as users to foster and maintain a positive online community on . Personal attacks against anyone; regardless of his/her past behavior; are contrary to this spirit. :To help maintain this atmosphere, our chat have a set of expectations required by users: ::13. Courtesy - Individuals are expected to maintain a courteous atmosphere in the chat; do not use profanity excessively. If an individual is showing exceptional rudeness, do not retaliate, and notify a Moderator. ::14. Respect - Individuals are expected to show respect for Resident Evil Wiki and its community. Love and tolerate. Disruption :Disruption is considered to be either a purposeful, or accidental action that will interrupt or impede the progress, functionality, and atmosphere of the chat. It is up to the user to use common sense to judge if their actions are disruptive to the chat. Disruption comes in many forms: ::15. Spamming - Spam is considered the posting of unneeded, repetitive, or meaningless links, images, or comments. The excessive use of caps-lock; emoticons; and ACSII art is also considered spam. Spam may take up one or more lines; it is at the discretion of the Chat Moderator or SysOp to deem what is spam. ::16. Flooding - Flooding the chat is considered the purposeful intent to leave and enter the chat multiple times with in a short period of time. ::17. Trolling - Trolling is considered the purposeful intent to disrupt a chat with inflammatory, extraneous, stupid, or off-topic messages with the primary intent of provoking readers into a response. What constitutes trolling will be at the discretion of the Chat Moderator or SysOp. ::18. Roleplay - Roleplaying is heavily-discouraged in Chat and roleplayers are advised to use a different Chat or use the "Multi-PM" function. ::19. Language - Individuals are expected to use English as an extension of the language policy. As such, users must not persist in messaging on the main Chat in a foreign language; some users may feel excluded because of it, or believe you to be discussing them. If multiple users speak the same language, it is more acceptable for them to PM each other or, as is the case with German and Spanish, use those two wikis' Chats, instead. An exception to this is if the user is tying a language into a predominantly-English conversation. Users are also asked to use grammar and punctuate to the best of their abilities. ::20. Further disruption - The above are the most common forms of disruption, however not the only forms. Where the rules do not cover a certain action, it is up to the individuals themselves to judge whether their actions might be considered disruptive; it is also at the discretion of the Chat Moderator or SysOp to deem whether an action can be considered disruptive enough to be issued a warning. Sexual content :It is illegal to show minors content of a sexual nature, we therefore impose a complete ban on pornography, and similar content. If an individual feels the need that the must share such material, then please keep it to PM, and only to those who have given consent. ::21. Pornography - Individuals are to never post links, images, or videos that contain pornographic material. Images containing nudity will also violate this rule. Beyond the chat ::22. Chat ≠ Wiki - The Chat is semi-autonomous, and does not equal the wiki, therefore an individual's actions on the wiki does not affect the individual's rights/status on the Chat, and vice versa. ::23. Other wikis - Issues from other wikis should not be brought into the chat. If you have an issue with a user, please use the wiki specific talk/message pages, not our chat. If you are a Resident Evil Wiki user and have a foreign wiki issue you wish to discuss with another user, please use the Private Messaging system. ::24. Private Messaging - With private messaging and private chats, we instil a "your own business" policy. Users are free to share images and websites within the confines of the users perception of acceptability. However, harassment and spamming of an individual is unacceptable, and is subject to punishment by a Moderator with the correct evidence. ::25. Sockpuppets - Sockpuppets are considered new accounts made with the purpose of circumventing a chat ban on a previous account. Sockpuppets will be banned from the chat indefinitely. ::26. Bot Accounts - Only SysOp-regulated bots that have received the bot flag are permitted to be used on the Chat. Bot accounts without a bot flag will be banned from the chat. ::27. Links - Do not post links to other chats in the main Chat. If it is a personal issue such as inviting someone else to the chat then send the link using Private Message. Further rules ::28. Recruitment - is not a recruitment site. Do not post links or other advertisements to recruit users to a clan, group, or website. ::29. Strong/Adult Language - Such language is acceptable on Chat, but must be used "moderately", and not to be used on a whim. As such, using terminology in order to offend or intimidate will not be tolerated, as this ties in to the Harassment section of rules. ::31. Controversy - It is preferred that users avoid making comments that would provoke hostility. Such concepts include prolonged religious and political debates. Conversations regarding Political beliefs are heavily-discouraged so as to avoid arguments going beyond a Political medium and into outright slander. When it has been deemed that the conversation to be emptied of its value, drop the subject. ::32. Age - Under-13s are not allowed on Chat, as Wikia, itself, is age-restricted due to US law. Connection issue policy To prevent joined/leaving log flooding within the channel, a policy regarding connection issues has been created to ensure a peaceful, ongoing chat. Any user, including staff members, can be temporarily kickbanned by a Moderator for having a high concentration of continuous issues with their connection over a short period of time. Note this only applies to those who have not responded in public or private chat. For Moderators, please implement the following procedures by the letter prior to kickbanning a user for having issues. #User in question will be given a warning via the main public chat. If they do not respond in a timely fashion, then give them a warning through private messaging. ##If user responds but connection issues still persist however, the following procedures will still apply. #30 seconds of repeated connection interruptions will be the minimum time to considering a temporary kickban. #At Moderator discretion, warn user one last time through either public or private chat. If the problem does not cease, you're authorized to kickban the user in question. ##Note if any SysOps or Chat Moderators are having issues with their connections, please consult any active Bureaucrats about the situation. They will be granted the abilities to remove user privileges in order to carry out this policy. As with the ban, user rights MUST be restored immediately after the ban is set. #Any moderators, preferably the user who banned the individual, are asked to notify the user via their wiki user talk page about the situation. Please include the fact that it was not any behavioral issue and that they were banned for connection issues ONLY. Please direct them to speak with any member of Resident Evil Wiki's Staff. Users who remain dormant on the wiki chat for extended periods of time may not be kicked for apparent connection problems. Should an individual remain in the chat for an extended period of time, the best course of action is to ignore the individual. Following the problem after a response by the user, SysOp or Chat Moderators MUST unban the user from Chat without delay and question. However, if the problem continues to happen, please follow the above procedures again. ;NOTE: Users may not be permanently banned from the chat channel for having connection issues. This policy is not intended to punish users, rather, simply to make the chat channel a more peaceful and active element of the wiki. As such, having connection issues will not interfere with any ongoing or previous corrective behavior warnings/bans. Those who warn these users in question that these connection-related kickbans may lead to punishment will themselves be under behavioral review. External Links *Resident Evil Wiki:Chat Policy